More information about the Estonian INTESE partners

BEF Estonia

Baltic Environmental Forum Estonia (BEF Estonia)

BEF Estonia has been founded as NGO and part of the BEF Group in July 2003. The general goal of BEF Estonia is to promote the significance of environmental protection, by developing co-operation and initiating a dialogue between various institutions and stakeholders. This includes capacity building for environmental management as well as trainings, seminars and other events on matters of environment, management and communication.

The main topics for BEF Estonia throughout the years are: chemicals and consumer issues, nature protection, waste, water, energy and air quality.

Since 2003, BEF Estonia has been closely involved in energy-related issues – finding relevant local background data, participating on different events and establishing a network of contacts among local stakeholders. They have been or are currently partners in several projects such as “Exchange of information and promotion of cooperation for increasing energy efficiency of energy resource use and facilitation for changing consumer patterns in the Baltic states” (financed by EEA financial mechanism, Norwegian financial mechanism and Latvian state budget with mediation of the Foundation of Society Integration) and the DBU-funded project “Development of holistic and strategic concepts for innovative and energy efficient construction of new buildings in the Baltic States”.

Saku, Estonia

Municipality of Saku (Estonia)Saku`s slogan is “Through a window of green”

The Municipality of Saku is located south from the Estonian capital Tallinn with approximately 8,000 inhabitants on a territory of about 171 km². This makes Saku one of the largest rural municipalities in Estonia and with its proximity to the capital it is one of the communes with a high increase of new building activities. The major issues regarding energy efficiency are the poor quality of construction works due to inexperienced construction workers and their lack of interest, as well as the wish to quickly finalise and sell-off the dwellings. This also requires a shift towards incorporating energy efficiency more systematically in the processes of municipal planning and development.

The specific role of the municipality in this project is to participate actively in all project activities and to function as a communal multiplier among other municipalities in Estonia.